Luke 1:63

And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
asked	αἰτήσας aitēsas	G154	to ask (in genitive case) · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
table	πινακίδιον pinakidion	G4093	a tablet (for writing on) · noun — accusative singular neuter
wrote	ἔγραψεν egrapsen	G1125	to "grave" · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
saying	λέγων· legōn	G3004	properly · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
His	αὐτοῦ. autou	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
name	ὄνομα onoma	G3686	a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority · noun — nominative singular neuter
is	ἐστί estí	G2076	he (she or it) is
John	Ἰωάννης Iōannēs	G2491	Joannes (i.e. Jochanan) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
marvelled	ἐθαύμασαν ethaumasan	G2296	to wonder · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
all	πάντες.¶ pantes	G3956	all · adjective — nominative plural masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Isaiah 30:8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Luke 1:60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
Luke 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call…
Jeremiah 17:1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the ho…
Habakkuk 2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
Proverbs 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 1:57-66

In these verses, we have, I. The birth of John Baptist, Luk 1:57. Though he was conceived in the womb by miracle, he continued in the womb according to the ordinary course of nature (so did our Saviour): Elisabeth's full time came, that she should be delivered, and then she brought forth a son. Promised mercies are to be expected when the full time for them is come, and not before. II. The great joy that was among all the relations of the family, upon this extraordinary occasion (Luk 1:58): Her neighbours and her cousins heard of it; for it would be in every body's mouth, as next to miraculous. Dr. Lightfoot observes that Hebron was inhabited by priests of the family of Aaron, and that those…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 1:63

marvelled all--at his giving the same name, not knowing of any communication between them on the subject.

Adam Clarke on Luke 1:63

A writing table - Πινακιδιον, a tablet, a diminutive of πιναξ, a table. "The boys in Barbary are taught to write upon a smooth thin board, slightly daubed over with whiting, which may be rubbed off or renewed at pleasure. Such probably (for the Jewish children use the same) was the little board, or writing table, as we render it Luk 1:63, that was called for by Zacharias." Shaw's Travels, p. 194. My old MS. considers the word as meaning the instrument of writing, rather than the tablet on which he wrote: and he aringe a poyntel, wroot seyinge, Joon is his name. A thin board, made out of the pine tree, smeared over with wax, was used among the ancients; and to this the Anglo-Saxon version see…

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John Gill on Luke 1:63

And he asked for a writing table,.... That is, he made signs for one, for as yet he could not speak. The Persic version renders it "ink", and the Ethiopic, a book, and the Vulgate Latin, a notebook. The word signifies "a little table", such as they used to write not only "upon", but "in"; and was sometimes of brass (t), sometimes of wood, and sometimes of wax (u), on which they wrote with a style or pen, and wrote, saying, his name is John: not that he must be, or shall be, so called; but this is his name, and no other; being what the angel had given him before his conception, and Zacharias now confirms: and they marvelled all; they were astonished, not so much at the new name brought into…

The Church Fathers

But the name John is also interpreted the grace of God. Because then by the favour of Divine grace, not by nature, Elisabeth conceived this son, they engraved the memory of the benefit on the name of the child.
— John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

(non occ.) Zacharias is by interpretation "remembering God," but John signifies "pointing to." Now "memory" relates to something absent, "pointing to," to something present. But John was not about to set forth the memory of God as absent, but with his finger to point him out as present, saying, Behold the Lamb of God.
— Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

John the Baptist — The “forerunner of our Lord.” We have but fragmentary and imperfect accounts of him in the Gospels. He was of priestly descent. His father, Zacharias, was a priest of the course of Abia (1 Chr.…
John · Miraculous birth of — Miraculous birth of
Table · 4. A slab upon which inscriptions were ma — 4. A slab upon which inscriptions were ma
Zacharias (Zechariah) · 2. The father of — 2. The father of

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Luke 1:63

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 1:57-66

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 1:63

Adam Clarke on Luke 1:63

John Gill on Luke 1:63

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Luke 1:63

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 1:57-66

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 1:63

Adam Clarke on Luke 1:63

John Gill on Luke 1:63

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Luke 1:56-66

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Luke 1:62-63